Zac Taylor: Bengals QB Joe Burrow ‘looks great’ as he rehabs calf injury

National Football League

Published Aug. 21, 2023 7:12 p.m. ET

Joe Burrow has yet to return to practice since he strained his calf in July, but a pair of Cincinnati Bengals coaches remain positive about his status.

Head coach Zac Taylor shared an encouraging update on the fourth-year quarterback when speaking to reporters on Monday.

“He looks great,” Taylor said. “Physically just walking around, he looks as great as he has.”

Taylor’s update came a day after Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan offered a similar assessment of Burrow’s status.

“To my eyes, he looks like he is progressing the way he’s supposed to,” Callahan told reporters. “I don’t see him a lot doing things. I probably see him as much as you guys do. So I don’t go watch his rehab or anything like that, but I feel good about everything I’ve heard and seen so far.”

Burrow suffered the calf injury during one of the Bengals’ first practices of training camp, pulling up when he scrambled on a passing play during team drills. Shortly after, Taylor told reporters that Burrow would be out for several weeks. Burrow hasn’t practiced since then, though he had a pregame workout ahead of the Bengals’ preseason game on Aug. 11. He reportedly didn’t travel with the team for its preseason game against the Falcons in Atlanta last weekend.

Taylor didn’t seem too concerned about the idea that Burrow will likely enter the regular season without having a preseason snap, jokingly saying that he only needs “one rep” to be ready.

Callahan felt similarly.

“He’s still able to throw to some degree. I don’t think that part is going to be all that difficult for him [to be ready],” Callahan said. “Take a couple of days just getting back into rhythm with the receivers, but these guys have played so much football together that doesn’t concern me so much. And he’s not trying to put weight on like he was last year or anything like that. He’s in good shape, so I don’t think it would take him very long.”

How concerned should Bengals be about Joe Burrow’s calf injury?

Unfortunately for Burrow, this has been a common occurrence for him. He entered the previous two seasons either completing rehab from an injury (a torn ACL in 2021) or an ailment (appendectomy in 2022), causing him to play very few or zero snaps in the preseason in both years.

Taylor noted that Burrow’s become “a veteran” at having to rehab from injuries, though this one is a bit different from the other two.

“I would imagine, and I hate speaking for other people, that last year was unknown,” Taylor said. “How’s contact going to feel? How’s it going to feel when [he] torques? There’s a lot of things with an internal injury that I can’t speak to. I would imagine that’s a whole different mindset you have to have.”

The Bengals open the season against the Browns on Sept. 10.

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